New to martial arts - Need help with survival training / workouts / conditioning

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liz

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Would appreciate any advice.

So basically, i always thought i could take care of myself just fine then something happened when i was on holiday and i had to run away to save my skin.
It has been really bothering me since to the point where i literally cannot think of anything else.



I need some sort of workout that encorporates stuff that will help me, preferably around 30-40 mins that i can do at home in the mornings before work.
i also need to increase body and core strength.


i have a water base swinging boxing bag in my garden but know literally no technique aside from jabs and probably i'm not even doing those correctly.

I started taking Krav Maga lessons a month or so ago and find it really good, challenging, but good. i feel like i get thrown around more than actually fighting back but im hoping that will come eventually. I always end the lessons with 'conditioning bruises' which is to be expected, and i don't expect to be some sort of expert after such a short amount of time but i really need to speed things up a bit for my own sanity's sake.

So any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks
 
hi liz :) welcome to MT :)

you mean like lying on your back and raise your legs to varying degrees - that'll work your abs :)

another one is similar to the first one but you raise your body to a half sit position whilst doing leg raises

get yourself a kettlebell - something around 6kg ought to be enough then sit on the floor raise your legs up and with the kettlebell in your hands twist your body from side to side so that the kettlebell goes behind you on each rotation :) this one takes a bit of getting used to :)

abdominal crunches are another good one - i use an incline bench for these :)

aerobics is fantastic for all over workouts :) you can use a yoga ball or you can use a step and you can use light or heavy weights to increase the intensity of the workout and it's a full body workout too :) have you tried something like the insanity series of workouts ????? they only take the length of time you've got available to do a programme in :)

also you say you're taking classes - have you tried doing homework ????? you say that it's good exercise etc....... so why not do what you do in class at home too :) it'll also mean that you're more likely to get upto speed faster than if you only do what you do in class - in class :)

you also say that you've got what we call a "slam man" in your garden have you actually tried to use it ????? if it correct technique for using that you're after then go to a boxing or muay thai class and ask the guy / girl in charge if they can show how to punch / elbow / knee / kick / headbutt the darn thing properly -- you'll get a few more bruises but hell you've got the motivation for it sat in your yard :)

let us know how you're getting on :)

donna
 
Thanks Donna,

It's true i do really need to get my act together and start using whats available to me.

I will invest in a kettle bell this weekend.

I will keep you posted :)
 
If you want to build up your core strength do v-ups. V-ups are situps where your feet also come up and so you make a letter V. The internet would have pictures and videos of it.
 
Welcome to MT.

You don't say what situation caused you to have to run for your life. But any time you get into a situation like that, don't feel bad about running to save your life. Even if several years from now you are an accomplished martial artist. No matter how good you get, on any given day, you may not be up to par, and your opponent may be having the best day ever. Don't study with the idea of being the martial artist that kicks the world's butt. You may be able to do it most of the time, but what about that once or twice when you may not be able to? That to say nothing of the fact that most martial arts teach students not to be that way.

It sounds like you are in a good martial art now. Stay with it. Do what you are told about exercising and learning as quickly as possible. Don't expect to be a grand master in 6 months or less. Learning any style of fighting art well takes a long time, even if you are able to learn well and quickly.

Again I don't know what situation you were in. But I would encourage you to learn ways not to get into bad situations. You can't always prevent that, but with practice of good ways to avoid trouble, you can miss a lot of bad situations. Situational awareness is a good thing to know.

Keep us informed on how you are doing.
 
You've been learning Krav for a month and all they have taught you to do is to Jab?
Ok.

The fitness stuff is pretty easy , just get a skipping rope and mix it in with a body weight training circuit.
There is a ton of body weight training information on the internet.

I would stop punching the bag , if you are unsure how to punch properly you may end up injuring yourself.
Use palm strikes instead , keep the fingers vertical , thumb tucked in , and strike through the heel of your palm.
Visualise hitting the attackers chin.

As you move in to strike the bag , coordinate it so that your advancing step and palm strike are in sync.
This will ensure that your full body mass is behind your strike.

You can also do a double palm strike , which as the name suggests , uses two hands together at the same time , this is a very powerful strike used in Wing Chun
Keep your elbows tucked in for maximum power , don't let the elbows flare out.

These are solid self defence techniques that you can do on the bag right away, without risking injury to your wrists.
 
Burpees.



Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2
 
Hi Liz. Welcome to MT. Your post actually says a lot. It tells us that you know the first rule of self defence ... you ran away. You get full marks for that. ;)

You say that that bothered you and you're obviously still very concerned about what happened and how you dealt with it. Now can I suggest that even if you had 10 years of Krav training under your belt when the situation occurred, you still made the best decision.

You've made a great choice in selecting Krav. I'm not at all biased. I just happen to teach it. :p But don't expect to become the best street fighter in your city overnight. What you are training for is to develop a certain skill set that will kick in automatically if a nasty situation arises. I would hope that your initial instinct to run away remains, just that you also will have additional resources at hand if you need something extra. In your Krav training I would expect that your instructor has shown you how to make a fist correctly and how to strike to pads or kick bag. Keep practising those punches on your bag at home. As others have said there are fitness and core exercises you can do as well but a few minutes a day beating the crap out of your bag will do heaps for you.

Good luck with your training.
:asian:
 
Just my .02 cents - First, do NOT feel bad about running away!!!!! Cannot stress that enough!! One day, you may find yourself in a situation after years of training and you might get in one good shot
and then - yup - you should run!! Sometimes, the bravest thing you can do is run!! One of the reasons I'm in TKD is a situation similar to yours except - I didn't have a chance to run and wound up
broken and bleeding at the back door of my hotel with 3 fractured ribs, 2 black eyes and a broken nose and - believe me - if I'd been able to run, that is the first thing I would have done!!
In addition to the good fitness advice already given - if you're interested in core strength - the plank is excellent for that!!! I wish you nothing but the best!!! :)
 
K-man is telling it like it is. And if you can afford it, buy P90X and disipline yourself to follow it.
 
Liz, you made the right choice in running away. That's really the best self defense of all.

Ironically, I'd say that running would be a good core exercise for survival and conditioning. You can never have enough endurance and stamina.

Is your Krav school offering plenty of sparring opportunities where you get to fight your classmates? In Brazilian Jiujitsu we sparred for 30 minutes straight after an hour of practice. Fighting is a great way to develop core, conditioning, endurance, and your timing. I lost 50lbs in about three months because of it. If your Krav school doesn't offer it, maybe you and your classmates can do some on your own time?
 
Thanks guys this actually means alot.

its all good DonnaTKD, I am going to try and take all of this on board (although it will deffo be work in progress particularly with the burpies of the front kick variety :) )

Just to clarify i had been doing the krav since like mid july and my holiday was last week. So the Krav is good but mainly we have done knife blocking and throws and the 360* something, lots of fore arm blocks and an anti-elbow strangle thing and regardless that none of those particular blocks etc would have been appropriate for the situation, Its more that if i did have to fight i wouldve lost anyway so running was really the only option.

its like ive only just realised that all this time i've had a false confidence and now its shattered so i will be doing as much of the above as possible. i'm fed up of feeling like i'm doing nothing about it so all of this stuff will be really handy for me this weekend when i make some sort of regime for the next few months.

Yes i have tried insanity before i'll be starting it again next week. Day 1 Monday :D Ive been looking alot at insanity vs. P90X reviews and just from the equipment side of things this time round ill be doing insanity, although its more to increase endurance vs P90x which would be more of the resistancy stuff and i dont have a 'pull up bar'*? at this early stage for me anything like this will help.

they are beginning to do sparring at the krav gym, i think they are trying to ease my friend and i into it since we started in the middle and everyone is way more advanced than us and we are the only girls there, i think they were trying not to scare us off. i have a friend that does krav at another gym in london i was going to go test his class out see if its much different or if i can pick up some stuff there i know he wont hold back too which is added bonus, depending on how you look at things.

Thanks again randomers :)
 
cos of the length of time that most of us have been training our various MA's things can get a bit advanced rather quickly ;) glad that you're ok with it :)

which gym in london does your friend go to ?????

and by that statement i take it that you're a southerner ?????
 
Ha!

yea i'm from just north of London.

His gym is Tang Long in Golders Green they do all sorts there but just for now i recon ill stick with krav maga at the risk of being over stimulated lol :)
 
it's all right - it's them in westminster that we don't like ;)

cos us welsh are severely hampered by them --- reckon that we might see a welsh referendum at some point - yippee baaa, baaa even the sheep like that idea ;)

sorry i digressed again :)

i've heard of that gym cos if i'm right they have a muay thai fight school there cos i'm pretty sure that i've gone up against a few of their students in the past :)

oh and if you hadn't guessed i'm heavily into muay thai in fact it's my life :)

you're better off sticking with one art and learning as much as you can - you need to be like a sponge :) - before moving on you never know you might just like the competition and being in that environment :)

i wish you all the best with your studies :)
 
Well, first off, if it's really bothering you emotionally/mentally and it continues to be on your mind all the time, you may want to talk to a therapist or counselor about what happened. Being in serious danger can be traumatic, and it might help to have someone to talk to about it.

As far as your actual question.... running is a great defense, as you saw, and a great way to build your cardio. If you hate running, mix it up with other cardio activities like riding a bike or jumping rope. There's a lot of gear you can get for strength training, but crunches, push-ups, squats, and leg lifts are all totally free, as is hitting the bag you own.

Mook jong made a good point about how you can injure yourself punching someone if you're inexperienced. He recommended palm strike; another good option is an elbow strike (tip: don't hit with the point of your elbow, but right below that, at the top of your forearm). You can elbow strike the nose, chin, side of the head, even the gut. I'd recommend practicing some kicks to the knee and groin level too.

Beyond that, just, go to class, learn your techniques and do some sparring.
 
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